The Virginia Coast Reserve is a biosphere reserve created by The Nature Conservancy in the early 1970s. It consists of 14 barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of the Virginia portion of the Delmarva Peninsula, including Parramore Island, Hog Island, Virginia, Smith Island, Virginia, Assawoman Island, and Metompkin Island. These barrier islands play an important role in sheltering the mainland portions of the Eastern Shore of Virginia from the impact of coastal storms and are important for breeding and migrating beach nesting and colonial waterbirds, including Piping Plovers. It also serves as the research location for the Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER) project.
The reserve was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1979.
Famous quotes containing the words coast and/or reserve:
“Have we even so much as discovered and settled the shores? Let a man travel on foot along the coast ... and tell me if it looks like a discovered and settled country, and not rather, for the most part, like a desolate island, and No-Man’s Land.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We must reserve a back shop all our own, entirely free, in which to establish our real liberty and our principal retreat and solitude.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)